When things can go wrong

They will....

Rick called up just as she was to board the flight.

“There has been a disaster!”

“What?”

“We are not being allowed on board. We need a visa to change flights in Kuala Lumpur”

“Oh, that can’t be true, it is a transit flight”

“I don’t know what is happening. They say we need a visa to enter and exit the low cost terminal”

“That is not possible; it’s just for a few hours. We will not get out of the airport”

“I know, I know. We have been telling them. But they are not allowing us. THEY ARE NOT LETTING US BOARD.”

That was Friday, the 24th of Dec at 4 PM. 5 hours to board my Air Asia flight to Bali via KL.

The next 4 hours was a marathon of phone calls to and fro - checking options to change flights, reschedule to get a Malaysian visa, change travel itinerary to start on 29th Dec.

We rescheduled the whole trip.

The big question was how soon we could manage a Malaysian visa. Because everything, everything depended on that.

I found out in Mumbai I could get a visa in 2 days through VFS. My friend would have to go to Chennai (from Bangalore) to get their visa.

And here too another blow. Chennai’s Malaysian consulate was closed on Monday. We had only Tuesday to get a visa. Just one day.

The whole trip hinged on that.

And another blow. Train tickets to Chennai were booked. So, was Tatkal. The girls decided to brave the bus with blankets at ‘sub zero’ temperature as they say. Anything for New Year’s at Bali.

We practiced stories.

“Tell them it’s your marriage”

“Sure, and I made this colossal mistake and travel by a low cost flight”

“Say your sister is pregnant”

“What about Su, Whose sister will she become?”

“It is your best friend’s wedding and you two are the bridesmaid”

We’ve heard conflicting experiences from applicants to Chennai’s Malaysian Consulate. Most said visas are given in 2-3 days only; no way were we getting visas in a day (heart palpitations, prayers start). Some claim it is possible if you plead in person. Plead they did.

Tuesday morning. I sit with worry and clenched fist at work. Richa calls up. And in the past couple of days whenever she has called, it has been some bad news.

“One minute back we were ready to call off the whole thing.”

“So what, tell me fast?”

“We’ve made it. They accepted our visa application”

“Yippeee, what did you guys do?”

“We leaned over the little window, cried, wept and entreated, sir please give it to us on humanitarian grounds, and he says, so the rest are animals or what? That is not what we meant sir. Sir, sir. Sir, groveling on and on. He finally says alright, just submit and scoot.”

Will we ever forget this trip (of course, if we ever make it)?

For your info: Air Asia is a point to point flight. You will need a visa if you land in a country which provides no visa on arrival, even if it just few hours within the airport. The same is not the case with full fare airlines like Malaysian Airlines which may provide transit facilities.

Top Ten 2010

I was a later entrant to facebook, but it has been an integral part since. These are my top status messages for 2010. Notice shades of melancholy.

Bali: Prelude

Not without hiccups. My holiday approval mail is missing; co-travelers are shuttling between cities for work, phone conks off, yet to take out forex…

Some concerns come up. Rinjani trekking can be hazardous. Apparently, trekkers slip often (shivers). Though I think our version is the safest and easiest. Is it cold out there? Driving a car is cumbersome, withdrawing money is fraud prone. Don’t forget the famous bombings in 2002 and 2005. (Don’t tell my mom).

But the excitement simmers. I hear one can buy dresses for Rs 300. There is Gamelan music I want to hear, wood carving to see, silver jewellery, temples, people. Of course, beaches to dip my toes in. Parties to rock.

Something interesting I read: Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island’s largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). Kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

I like the sea. I don’t like the allusion.

The other daughter

Let me finish this before I leave For Bali. After that, for a month I will suffer from a travel hangover. Naturally, incapacitated.

While I was reading Songs of Blood and Sword (SoBaS), I was a bit turned off by (what I perceived) as a one sided account of Pakistan’s immediate history. Daughter of the East is the other side. So together, I am hoping to piece together the truth.

Contrary to the feeling I got in SoBaS, Benazir claims her father, Zulfikar Bhutto took her under his wings and implies that she was heir apparent more than anyone else. Mostly, she talks of every family member with affection (atleast till half of the book), and recounts much of her early life with charming (often unbelievable) naiveté.

Members of the Butto family, according to both books, are no less than demi Gods. Some of them are flawless and perfect (Zulfikar by both, Mir according to Fatima, Benazir & Asif Zardari according to Benazir), some others villains with nothing to redeem themselves. Tad myopic.

In the preface, Benazir goes on and on about how she functioned so efficiently when she was thrice pregnant – quite an overkill. There is a lot of feminist talk, but that is to be expected, what with her making it in a strongly patriarchic society. But her language and style are intriguing. The three wars with India, the Bangladesh carnage in 1971 (My parents emigrated just before); the Shimla accord, her father’s incarceration and subsequent death have been sensitively touched upon.

It is surprising that two countries split in the same year – 1947 – One has done reasonably well for herself with stable governments and steady development, the other almost declared a rogue state with years of coups and military rule. It’s weird isn’t it, how some make it and others don’t.

Or maybe I am biased too.

To mourn, so long

I am reading Daughter of the East and its spooky how I came upon the page on Muharram right today, when it actually is.

So this is what the book says, “During Muharram, the month commemorating the massacre of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussein at Karbala in Iraq, I would sometimes dress all in black and go with my mother to join other women in the Shiite rituals. ‘Follow closely’. Mummy would say to me, for the Shiite ceremonies were more elaborate than those of the Sunnis. I never took my eyes off the speaker who dramatically recaptured the tragedy that befell Imam Hussein and his small band of followers at Karbala, where they were ambushed and brutally slaughtered by the troops of the usurper Yazid. …”

So far back, yet still remembered.

On a separate note, we thought it would be a dry day. Luckily it wasn’t.

Sifting through memories

I took this at Eyüp Sultan - Istanbul. Sometimes, I am that child...

Happy Birthday!

A movie, shopping, double cheese burst pizza...Little things to make a day special.

Bali Ahoy: Prelude

In keeping with celebrating at ‘happening’ locations (last time), this New Year's eve I am going to be in Bali. Yeah! Bali - island of fun and parties.

Four of us – all footloose women, are (atleast on record) planning to party hard, and to let all loose (some claim, literally!). Bali and Lombok are on the radar.

Keeping aside the fun and frolic, planning for the trip was getting harrowing. Reasons

1 – Undecipherable local English

2 – No credit cards accepted for bookings (Indonesia is one of the most fraud prone countries)

3 – Most tour offices close by 3 PM IST

The tickets from India were purchased in the Air Asia sale in March. So, my Mum-KL-Mum costs just over 10k. But the connecting flights though aplenty, were not cheap and wait timings long. Still, I like to think, we got it cheap. Our flights go like this

Mum-KL-Mum: Rs 10k (AirAsia)

KL-Bali-KL: Rs 10k (AirAsia)

Bali-Lombok-Bali: Rs 3k (book Lionair via Paypal using travelindo)

Here’s where we are staying (pretty no? pretty no?)

Balam Bali Villa

Villa Lombok

Now, that we have flights and accommodation under control, its time to read up on it. Bali Ahoy!

Just

A Sunday afternoon nap is a nasty habit I indulge in, and look forward to. The best part is cracking open a groggy eye mid afternoon, the sun streaming in. Plus some more hours till evening tea.

Tumhari Amrita

I laughed and I cried. It was the best kind of play.

It was so crowded to begin with, houseful as always. We did manage to edge through and sit on good seats. Two chairs, some pages on top, and a glass of water. All what the actors needed.

Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shiekh (who I love). I remember watching the English version of the play and being unmoved. I think it was the language (Hindusthani, some Urdu) and the beautiful script (Javed Siddiqui). The innocent mirth, the depth of their relation which was palpably real. Only through letters.

She says it was important to be a mother – because only then you realized real pain. He says she was like a turbulent river – which crashed against its own banks and led to its destruction. Happy and sad. Sad and happy.

I have often wondered if women are emotionally stronger than men, as often claimed. But I doubt it.